Milwaukee Bucks forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute will miss the entire training camp, as he will be recovering from off-season knee surgery. Mbah a Moute underwent surgery this past May to repair his right patella tendon.

The Bucks were hopeful he would be able to participate in training camp but obviously, that will not be the case. Mbah a Moute should be ready to play in the early part of the regular season with a strong possibility of being able to suit up for the first game of the year.

“The plan was just to get rid of the pain and to get back to playing at a high level,” Mbah a Moute said. “Obviously, over the last year and a half that’s been hurting me a lot and affecting my game. Now I’ve addressed that, which was the big thing going into the summer. Now I’m just excited about being back out there and playing pain-free.”

Mbah a Moute showed signs of greatness in several games last season, something fans have been waiting to see for years. He dominated around the basket on offense, which means head coach Scott Skiles must draw up plays to get him the ball in the paint.

The fifth-year player saw his level of play diminish towards the end of the 2011-12 season due to the large amount of pain he endured every night. The knee surgery is supposed to help with that so he can get back to playing at a high level and help Milwaukee win basketball games.

Mbah a Moute was recently ranked 153th by ESPN.com and TrueHoop Network’s ranking of the top 500 NBA players. He received a score of 4.81 due to his outstanding defensive performance last season. The fact Mbah a Moute was just outside the top 150 surprised many people but personally, I believe it was well deserved.

The Bucks definitely need the 26-year-old to get back in shape and ready for the 2012-13 season. Milwaukee has high expectations for this year and a lot of that has to do with outplaying every other team using an aggressive style of defense. Mbah a Moute is arguably the Bucks’ best defender so they will need him healthy to lead the way.

In 43 games last season, he averaged 7.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.5 blocks, and 0.9 steals per game while shooting 51.0 percent from the field.